19 june – 30 july
The exhibition "Decorative Art - living beautifully" presents unique exhibits from the collection of the All-Russian Decorative Art Museum. They follow the history and evolution of Russian decorative art from the XIX century to the present. The term "applied art" encompasses a certain dualism: on the one hand, these are everyday objects, surrounding people in everyday life, on the other - art objects.
Visitors will be able to see unique exhibits of porcelain production, Skopje pottery, wood carving, stone-cutting art, Kaslino iron casting, Rostov finift, lacquer miniatures, Zhostovo painting, lace weaving and hand weaving. The exhibition also includes iconic works of arts and crafts: the Lezgin Dzhigitovka sculpture from 1887 by Yevgeny Lanceray; a decorative vase made by the Krasnoselsky jeweler studio in 1960, a chess set presented at the Paris exhibition in 1925, and 5 genre compositions on the subject of peasant life in the XIXth century made at the Verbilki factory by F.Y. Gardner.
Porcelain production is represented by the products of the Imperial Porcelain Factory - the first porcelain factory in Russia - famous sculptures from the series “The People of Russia” by P. P. Kamensky (1910) and also examples of the chamber plastics of the 1920s by the outstanding artist B. M. Kustodiev. There are impressive biscuit statuettes (unglazed porcelain) from the second half of the XIXth century produced by the first private porcelain factory of F.Y. Gardner.
The products of the Skopinsky pottery of the late XIX th and early XXth centuries. - The unique sculptural work that amazes with its unusual images, complex compositions, virtuosity of sculpture and polychrome colouring.
A special place at the exhibition belongs to the works of lacemakers (XIX-XX), who created an original artistic tradition, a huge variety of patterns, unique techniques of professional skill and local originality of lace in each craft centre. Or lacquer miniatures: Fedoskino (XVIII), Palekh, Mstyory, Kholuya. Zhostovo trays from the 1970s-1980s, the golden age of the craft. Interesting are the works of masters from the Dagestan village of Untsukul, made using the special technique of Untsukul incisions.